Militants attack Arab minister at mosque

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THE Egyptian Foreign Minister was attacked by Palestinian Muslim militants yesterday after he tried to pray at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque.

Ahmed Maher, 68, who hours earlier had met Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, was slightly injured by the crush of an irate mob that overwhelmed his security staff. As he left, he was hit by shoes grasped from the stack outside the mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam.

The minister was heard to say “I’m choking, I’m choking” as he was hustled away by his bodyguards, who had been provided by the Palestinian Authority and officials of the mosque.